


i saw you for the first time (but i knew u already)

by justprompts



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, F/F, F/M, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Time Travel, Time Travelling Harry Potter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 01:56:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29959236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justprompts/pseuds/justprompts
Summary: The footsteps become louder, and Sirius presses himself to the wall, Wormtail twitching on his shoulder, Invisibility Cloak covering them head to toe.It's not Filch. Or Mcgonagall.It'sJames.Except, of course, it'snot.He's much shorter than James, his face isyounger,somehow - and his eyes are a worriedgreen, his face set in a frown as he looks around, biting his lip. He's wearing Gryffindor Robes, but Sirius is sure he's certainlyneverseen him before.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black/Harry Potter
Comments: 18
Kudos: 112





	i saw you for the first time (but i knew u already)

**Author's Note:**

> you might be wondering why i keep starting new fics when i _certainly_ haven't finished a single one
> 
>  _here's the answer :_ i'm a moron

___________  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"Kitchen Run, Jamie?" Sirius asks, sighing as James beams at Evans, again. Evans is staring at him like he's asked her for her first-born.  
  
"Take Pete, Padfoot," James replies, his eyes locked on Evans pathetically. "Cloak's with him. Map's with - er - "  
  
"I have it," Sirius says, frowning as he looks for Peter, who's sitting on the couch with a giggling fifth year girl.   
  
Sirius wonders irritably why Peter always gets the girls he likes.  
  
"Oy, Wormtail," he calls, rolling his eyes as Peter turns to glare at him. "Kitchens. Now."  
  
Sirius watches absently as Peter makes his excuses, and comes towards Sirius, small grin on his face. "What's got your wand in a knot  _now?"_ he asks, glancing sideways at Sirius, as they walk out of the portrait, draping the cloak over them. "It was  _your_ idea to have the party, anyway."  
  
"My mind changed," Sirius says, huffing and Peter shoots him a knowing smirk, taking the Marauders' Map from Sirius's hands.  
  
"Oh," he says, lips twitching as Sirius scowls at him. "Your  _mind_ changed?"  
  
"That's what I just said, isn’t it - " Sirius begins, irritably, when suddenly, there's a shuffling noise from around the bend of the corridor. Sirius freezes, and if he was Padfoot, his ears would probably be perked up right now.   
  
"Transform," Sirius says, shortly, and Peter looks at him, alarmed. "Transform right now. We can’t move fast if both of us use the cloak. Pete,  _hurry!"_ he adds, as the shuffling turns to distinct footsteps which are rapidly getting closer.  
  
Peter shrinks.   
  
The footsteps become clicks, and Sirius presses himself to the wall, Wormtail twitching on his shoulder, Invisibility Cloak covering them head to toe.   
  
It's not Filch. Or Mcgonagall.  
  
It's  _James_ .   
  
Except, of course, it's  _not_ .  
  
He's much shorter than James, his face is  _younger,_ somehow - and his eyes are a worried green, his face set in a frown as he looks around, biting his lip. He's wearing Gryffindor Robes, but Sirius is sure he's certainly  _never_ seen him before. His eyes zero in to somewhere near Sirius's feet.  
  
"What the  _hell_ ," he mutters, and walks right upto them. Sirius curses mentally. Wormtail turns his little head to Sirius with wide, guilty eyes, and Sirius  _knows_ Peter's messed something up, again.  
  
The boy bends down and Sirius holds his breath as he picks something up -  
  
_Oh, for fuck’s sake._   
  
Sirius glares silently at Peter, the  _idiot_ who  _dropped_ the goddamned Map. Peter shakes his head slightly, as if to say that the Map is atleast not open.  
  
Of course, that hardly matters, as Sirius will know in the next two seconds -  
  
" _I solemnly swear that I am upto no good,"_ the boy who really, really shouldn't know this, whispers and it's all that Sirius can do to not make a sound.   
  
Except if he knows how to work it, then that also means that -  
  
He sees him mouth the words  _'Sirius Black'_ with a disbelieving stare. Sirius winces, exchanges a look with Peter-the-Rat, and shrugs off the Cloak.  
  
The boy gasps a little, stumbling back and then, looks at Sirius like he's a ghost, looking pale and shocked and  _hurt._   
  
There's a pause, and then -  
  
" _Padfoot!"_ he yells, and crushes Sirius into a tight and extraordinarily confusing embrace.   
  
There are a lot of things on Sirius's mind, as he stands there, frozen in shock - Wormtail has jumped off his shoulder, the boy smells like something that Sirius recognizes, there's a scar on the boy's forehead, he  _knows_ how to open the Marauders' Map, he  _somehow_ knows that Sirius's nickname is Padfoot, but most of all -  
  
The single word spoken by the boy - the  _'Padfoot!'_ that he'd spoken without hesitance, sends a ripple of black across Sirius's forearm. His Soulmate - because that is, apparently who the boy is,  _Sirius's Soulmate -_ remains oblivious to Sirius's mind racing intensely, cataloging a million questions and everything about this boy.  
  
Finally,  _finally -_ he pulls away, probably because Sirius hasn't hugged him back, probably because he was just done with it and says, in a quiet voice like he's admitting a secret, "I always kept hope, you know. Even when everyone thought you were dead."  
  
Sirius doesn’t know what to say. Finally, he settles on, "Dead?" he croaks out, and waits for him to react, waits for the boy to feel the ripple that Soulmarks make -  
  
"But you came back!" the boy says, grinning, not a single sign of recognition on his face.  
  
And  _Oh._   
  
He hadn't ever thought he could be the Soulmate of someone who wasn't his Soulmate  _back_ . It's shock he feels, but along with an odd resignation, because  _of course._ This was just his luck - there was something apparently unlovable about him, something that -  
  
"Sirius?" the boy asks, looking confused as he stares at Sirius, his eyes running up and down. It makes Sirius feel uncharacteristically conscious. "I -  _why_ do you look like - how do you - are those  _Hogwarts_ Robes you're wearing - "  
  
He breaks off.  
  
" _Oh_ my god," he says, mouth hanging open. "Oh  _my god. Oh - fucking Merlin - "_   
  
Sirius watches him as he tugs at his hair, raising a shaky finger at Sirius and back towards the hallway, Sirius's hand still wrapped around his wrist to hide the now-black word.  _Padfoot._ He'd wondered so many times in the past, of how his Soulmate would already know his nickname to be  _Padfoot,_ of all things - but he'd never thought it was going to be this complicated.  
  
"Fuck - fuck -  _fuck - "_   
  
Sirius really doesn't understand anything at the moment. "I - er - I  _really_ don’t know who you are," Sirius says, wondering if he's supposed to sound apologetic.  
  
" _Fuck_ \-  _of course_ you don't,  _not yet -_ "  
  
"Sirius?"   
  
Both Sirius and the crazy-Soulmate-boy turn towards Peter, who's standing on the side and looking awkward. The boy blinks once, twice, his wand coming up seemingly unconsciously, before he takes a deep breath and asks, "What is the date, today?"  
  
Sirius looks at the boy, who looks entirely solemn about his enquiry, then, looks at Peter.  
  
"Er - yesterday was Wednesday," Peter says, slowly. "So, today was - oh, it's the ninth. Ninth November."  
  
There's a long pause. Peter stares cross-eyed at the boy's wand.  
  
"...1975?" the boy asks, and if Sirius wasn't still wondering about his Soulmark, he would be utterly confused.  
  
"1976," Peter corrects, incredulous.   
  
"You're sixteen, then," the boy mutters, looking so completely  _lost_ that Sirius feels a twinge of sympathy. "This is complete  _bollocks_ ."  
  
Peter shoots him another bewildered glance.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
_____________  
  



End file.
